TransFormMaker

Achieving a circular transition in the furniture industry

Living Lab TransFormMaker aims to bring about a circular transition in the furniture industry by building a network of furniture-making regions within which circular ecosystems circulate raw materials and generate (social) employment. The focus is on Genk region and Mechelen region within which the partners organise four labs in cooperation with local companies, policies, citizens and knowledge institutions.

To achieve a circular transition in the furniture industry, TransFormMaker starts from four labs. These are divided as follows:

Lab 1: How can we shape demonstrators to activate the sector?
- bottleneck at the level of design and production for a circular furniture industry
Lab 2: How can storytelling get employees and consumers excited about recovery?
- bottleneck at consumer acceptance level for a circular furniture industry
Lab 3: How can sofas and beds be marketed as a circular service?
- bottleneck at business modelling and consumer level for a circular furniture industry
Lab 4: How can raw materials for the furniture industry be sourced locally?
- bottleneck at the level of closing the cycles for a circular furniture industry


The overarching ambitions of the living lab are the development of (new) skills and abilities, storytelling and building hubs or networks in function of a circular furniture industry in Genk and Mechelen. In this way, the partners want to develop circular strategies that can be scaled up to the entire furniture industry to achieve the Flemish and European climate objective.

In the Mechelen region, the Living Lab has already started mapping residual and waste streams of wood, textiles, foam, plastics, and metal at all production and construction companies or larger organisations and institutions in the region, with a view to using these residual streams as raw materials for the furniture industry.

LUCA School of Arts

Partners Ecoso, Stad Mechelen, Veldeman Bedding, SYNTRAPXL, INDERA, Thomas More Mechelen-Antwerpen, Reset, Clubmeubelfabriek Cammers, KU Leuven, Stad Genk, Bulo

Sectors

Organisations